“Belleville 1965” (Michel Lagarde editions, € 20, in bookstores this Thursday, May 6) is a dive into the heart of the 1960s in one of the most popular districts of the capital, at the crossroads of four arrondissements (10th-11th century). XIXth and XXth).
An unforgettable journey in 70 color photos in a Paris forever disappeared with streets cluttered with 2 CV, 4 L, DS and 403 and where the clothes of passers-by, three years before May 68, are still very conventional.
These exceptional photographs which will have from mid-May the honors of an exhibition in the graphic arts gallery Treize Dix (13, rue Taylor-Xe) by Michel Lagarde, are the work of Jean-Baptiste de Baudouin, industrial designer and photographer in his spare time, who captured the atmosphere of Belleville at the time.
Died in 2003, this father of two lived with his wife Gilberte, at 31, boulevard de la Villette (Xe).
Unexpected pubication
No doubt these photos would never have been published if the son of their author, Jean-Luc de Baudoin who lives in Tours (Indre-et-Loire), had contacted via social networks, Patrick Marsaud, co-manager with two partners from the real estate agency John d'Orbigny (52, avenue de la République-XIe), which posts a file on a place or a character in Paris every Sunday on Facebook.
Passionate about Belleville, where he has worked for 30 years, this 60-year-old man observes: “The photos of Jean-Baptiste de Baudouin show a district on a human scale with its bistros and its cinemas, knowing that the part located in the 19th century will be disfigured in the 1970s by the construction of buildings of 10-15 floors, rue Rébeval in particular ”.
Café Au point du jour (19th century), metro Belleville Jean-Baptiste de Baudouin / DR
Today, the CFDT building (19th century) has replaced the Au point du jour brasserie, 1, rue de Belleville (19th century) Philippe Baverel
And continues: “When we leaf through the book, we say to ourselves:
It's another world!
However, these images are only 56 years old but it looks like they date from a century ago!
No doubt because they show the little people of Paris who have disappeared, like the four-season merchants who went to stock up with their cart at the Halles… Numerous in 1965 along the sidewalks of the shopping streets, they were still 130 in 1980, there are no more today ”.
As for the inhabitants, “they changed from the end of the 1990s when people arrived from the western boroughs.
Even if the district remains mixed, the sores who can afford an apartment at 10,000 euros per m2, are part of the landscape, ”notes the real estate agent.
A changing neighborhood
While "there were 8 or 9 cinemas in 1965 within a radius of 300 meters around the Belleville metro", recalls Patrick Marsaud, most have disappeared, some transformed into supermarkets, like the Féerique at 144, rue de Belleville (20th century), now a Franprix.
On the other hand, many cafes have survived, such as “Au Val de Loire”, at the intersection of the streets of the Faubourg du Temple and Saint-Maur (10th-11th century), located on the ground floor of an Art Deco building built in 1929. by architect Lucien Lambion.
"Belleville 1965" Michel Lagarde Dr
Epicenter of the district, the crossroads of the Belleville metro station is still dominated by the sign in red electric letters of the La Vielleuse brewery, whose origin dates back to the end of the 18th century.
Still visible today, a broken mirror inside retains the scars of a German shell that fell there in June 1918. On the other hand, its competitor opposite, Au point du jour, located since the beginning of the 19th century in 1, rue de Belleville (19th century), sank, demolished in the early 1970s. Instead, a poor little garden surrounded by high blue barriers, poorly masks a modern, massive and graceless building that houses the CFDT.
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